Editorial: More government shutdown threats coming shortly

Not just the threatened government shutdown at the end of the month if House Republicans can't agree among themselves on how to fund a disaster-relief bill, but the dreary fact that once again we have reached the end of the fiscal year with the 12 major spending bills to fund the government for the coming year unpassed, a shameful record now stretching back to 1995.

When the blue-suited, grim-faced Republicans took over the House, it was going to be run like a business, efficient and on time, with none of the histrionics of Democratic rule.

Even though the Democrats never passed their bills on time either, in retrospect they are looking positively Prussian compared to the Republicans. At a delicate time in legislative negotiations, the House GOP's conservative backbenchers managed to cut their leaders off at the knees on an issue that is not even a political winner for them.

House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Leader Eric Cantor were confident they had the votes to pass a $3.65 billion disaster-relief bill, which you would think would be a no-brainer considering the number of natural disasters we've had this year. But 48 Republicans deserted their leadership and the bill went down, 195 to 230, before passing two days later. This is not a good omen for the GOP because it shows when the chips are down Boehner can't automatically count on the minimum 218 votes he needs to get things passed.

The opposing Republicans want the disaster relief partially paid for by cutting $1.5 billion out of a Democratic program promoting automotive technology. However, the Senate is proposing $6.9 billion in disaster relief, without the Republican offset, and has vowed to raise the House bill to that level, whenever it gets there.

The government needs to pass the 12 major spending bills by Friday, a legislative impossibility, or come up with a stopgap spending bill to fund the government until Congress gets its act together and passes a full-year appropriation.

The talk is of setting a Nov. 18 deadline to pass that bill. And if Congress fails, guess what? We face another government shutdown.